Citizen's Arrest

What is it?

Behind the house I lived in in Queens, NY until I was ten was an alleyway. It wasn't a nasty little place for trash, just another way to pass between the rows of streets that neatly lined our town. Our yards and garages faced out into the alley and all of us neighborhood kids would play there.

Since I was one of the oldest kids that lived there, I often was "the leader" and therefore decided on what we would play if there were enough kids outside to do something.

One morning I watched The Bionic Woman and saw an episode where a character made a "Citizen's Arrest." I thought it was pretty cool that a person could get someone to stay still and wait for the police by simply saying those words. Thus, inspired by Lindsey Wagner, I decided to arrest most of the neighborhood kids and shut them in this old lady's yard. (It was a great makeshift jail until she came out waving a broom, threatening to call the police and our parents)

I don't know what made me think of this particular memory, but now I'm curious. What exactly is a Citizen's Arrest?